Eyeing Consumer Intelligence in Retail

Highlights

1. Customer Acquisition and Engagement: Customer acquisition remains the primary marketing goal for 63% of retail marketers in 2018. Social media updates (58%)and SMS campaigns (26%) were deemed the most engaging initiatives.
2. Top Marketing Activities for 2018: For 95% of retail marketers, social media marketing remains the most preferred form of digital marketing followed by website based marketing.
3. Digital Channel delivering the Best ROI: For retail, paid search (26%) was deemed to be the best performing digital marketing channel guaranteeing the highest ROI for each rupee invested by retail marketers, followed closely by Facebook marketing (24%) and email marketing (21%).
4. Calculating ROI: First Click (35%), Last Click (12%) and Algorithmic (12%) attribution models are most widely used models by retail marketers. Technology limitations (61%) followed by a lack of conviction about the business case (22%) are the biggest challenges while performing attribution.
5. Content Marketing: 69% of retail marketers use content marketing as an effective medium to attract and retain existing customers while 56% leverage it to increase brand awareness. Social media updates (62%) and Blogs & Newsletters (56%) were the most popular form of content deployment initiatives.
6. Increase in Digital Marketing investment in 2018: Eyeing a massive opportunity in social channels, 84% of retail marketers are willing to allocate a higher budget share to social media marketing while 58% of retail marketers intend to increase their spend on search marketing in the coming years.
7. Outlook for Future Technologies: Chatbots , Cross Channel automation platforms & Big Data analytics are the three most promising marketing technologies for the retail marketers in 2018.
8. Challenges for 2018: Handling rising fragmentation due to more channels, audiences and geographies is the top challenge for retail marketers followed by deploying the correct click attribution model for effective measurement of digital channels.

Mobile Consumer India 2017

Highlights

1. Consumption Trends of Mobile Consumers: 99% of the respondents have smartphones in 2017 as compared to 64% in 2013. Social Media, Email and Entertainment (videos & movies) emerge as the Top 3 activities on the mobile platform in 2017 as compared to Social Media, SMS and Email in 2013. Online banking appears to be the least popular activity. 62% of the respondents have activated the latest generation of mobile network, i.e. 4G on their phones in 2017 as compared to 60% who had activated 3G on their phones in 2013.
2. Customer Acquisition & Engagement: Interestingly the number of respondents who never faced call drops reduced from 10% in 2013 to 7% in 2017. 95% of the respondents want to hear from their favourite brands and companies in 2017 as compared to 78% in 2013. 94% of the respondents complained of receiving unwanted calls and spam messages in 2017 as compared to 90% in 2013.
3. E-Wallets: Almost 1/3rd of the study respondents started using E-Wallets applications after demonetisation. E-Wallets are primarily being used for recharge, bill payment and money transfer. Network issues, security threats and fear of hidden charges are the predominant problems faced while using E-Wallet by the respondents.
4. Email Marketing: 61% of the respondents preferred to stay in touch with companies of their choice via Email. 31% of the respondents are more likely to make a purchase after receiving a promotional offer via Email. 82% of the respondents check their Email via mobile phone as compared to 39% in 2013.
5. Social Media Marketing: 93% of the total respondents use at least one of the social media platforms. Facebook appears to be their favourite. The most active users are in the age group of 20-34 years.
6. Mobile Marketing Trends: 57% of the respondents prefer making online purchases via their mobile phone. 72% of the respondents spend at least 0-5 hours per week researching online products on their mobile. 16% of India consumers spend between at least 5-10 hours per week researching online about new products of their interest.

Retail India 2016: A Path to Revolution – 2016 India Retail e-Marketing Research

Highlights

1. Primary Marketing Goal of 2016: Customer Acquisition has been observed to be the central priority of India Retailers (51%), for 4th year in a row. Single Brand Retailers (73%) and online e-Commerce sites (74%) have moved fast ahead with this goal in mind.
2. Online Marketing Initiatives: While social sites are still pushing to make social commerce work, retailers are taking note. 61% Marketers have shown an accumulated interest in Social Media Promotions. This was accounted by a majority of 85% online retail operator.
3. Offline Marketing Initiatives: 61% Retailers agreed using Special Offers for customer attraction. 55% Single brand retailers and 58% of online operations with physical store also voted for this marketing activity.
4. Importance of Email Marketing: 85% Retailers agreed that email gave them better consumer engagement and is important for them. Mere 8% of them said that email marketing is not important for their business.
5. Importance of Mobile in Marketing Plan: 94% Retailers embraced mobile as a part of their marketing strategy.

Shopping Cart Abandonment – Recover your Lost Cart Opportunity

Highlights

1. The rate of Cart Abandonment in India is 51% as reported by India Marketers. However, our research shows that the industry ‘best in class’ rate for Cart Abandonment in India is 70-75%.
2. Mystery shopping conducted across portals reported that about 34% of the e-Commerce websites deploy a Cart Abandonment Program while 66% have still not considered this route to earn back the lost revenue.
3. 56 % of the India consumers abandon their cart because of Unexpected Costs such as high cost of shipping, tax rate, accessory charges etc. at the
   Point Of Payment.
4. Consumers’ View reported that Home Furnishing and Gifting have the highest rate of deployment of Cart Abandonment Program (CAP).
5. 50% of India Consumers voted ‘Shipping and handling costs listed too late’ in the check-out process as the No.1 reason for cart abandonment.
6. A whopping 78% India Marketers employ ‘Remarketing Campaigns’ to nurture leads and convert consumers’ interests into revenues.
7. 69% of India retailers provide incentives such as Discounts, Offers and Coupons to draw in consumers as a part of Consumer Re-engagement activities.
8. Approximately $4 trillion worth of merchandise will be abandoned in online shopping carts in 2015 globally, and about 63% of that is potentially recoverable by savvy online retailers.

For our latest report on The Annual State of Email Marketing, click here.

India Email Marketing 2015 – The Annual State of Email Marketing

Highlights

Analysis of over 10 bn emails sent in India by nearly 300 brands from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014, discover the latest email benchmark data on open rates, click-throughs and list churn.

1. ‘Frequency/Volumes of sending’ is the most important factor that will impact Inbox Deliverability in 2015, replacing ‘Content’ as the primary factor since 2011. ‘Sender Reputation’ is a growing concern for marketers, with 66% increase over the last 5 years (36% in 2015 vs 21% in 2011).
2. ‘Reaching out to target audiences’ is the biggest Email Marketing challenge India Marketers faced in 2014, with 51% Marketers agreeing to this statement. However, 60% of BFSI factors believe ‘Inadequate Segmentation’ to be a bigger issue for them.
3. Over the years from 2012 to 2014, ‘Emails being not relevant’ is the top reason for consumers unsubscribing followed by ‘Do not remember signing up’.
4. Emails viewed on Android and Windows devices have increased by 11% in 2014, abridging the share from Apple products, still desktop views continue to have 67% of all Open % Share.
5. For Click % Share, Mumbai (30%) leads the consumer email activity followed by Delhi (28%), Bengaluru (17%) and Chennai (11%) in 2014 as compared to 2013.
6. For e-Commerce sector, from 9am to 12noon there is an almost 300% increase in Open Rates with Click Through Rates (CTR) not far behind.
7. Shopping Cart Abandonment is an important issue for all Online Retailers. Deploying a simple Cart Abandonment Program (CAP) increases revenue by improving Cart Abandonment Rates. Yet currently only 48% of India e-Commerce Marketers have deployed a Cart Abandonment Program.
8. 100% of large companies (Rs. 5000+ crores turnover) find Behavioral Targeting effective and the number of retail marketers believe that Behavioral Targeting has brought significant change to their campaigns have increased by 24% (77% in 2015 vs 62% in 2014).

Email Marketing Playbook India for 2015

Highlights

Consumers have become smarter in today’s world and they expect contextually relevant communication from the marketers to fit their needs. According to 71% of India Marketers, email is the best way to stay engaged with the customers and is their Primary e-Marketing activity (The Digital DNA 2015).

Octane Research’s Email Marketing Playbook is a single resource which guides the marketers on how to engage the consumer with Email Marketing practices, challenges faced by marketers in Email Marketing, the creative email techniques and many more.

Key Topics:

1. Email Marketing- Subscriber Management
2. Email Deliverability and its Challenges
3. How to create effective and engaging Newsletters
4. Tips & Tricks for better Email Marketing
5. Email Marketing mistakes to be avoided
6. Boosting email ROI through Social Media Outreach
7. And many more…

India Retail Online Marketing & e-Commerce 2015

Highlights

1. Primary Marketing Goal: Customer Acquisition still remains the Primary Marketing Goal of India Retailers, with 58% Retailers voting for the same.
2. Online Marketing Activities: Social Media is voted as the Primary Online Activity by 79% of India Retail Marketers, a 30% increase over 2014.
3. Offline Marketing Activities: Print Promotion (77%) remains the top choice of retailers as their preferred Offline Marketing Activity.
4. Importance of Email Marketing: More than 85% of India Retail Marketers vote for Email as an important channel of their marketing Plan. Email Marketing continues in the Top 3 Online Marketing Channel for Retail in India.
5. Importance of Mobile Marketing: 95% Retailers said that mobile is important or very important to them as they use it as a part of their Marketing Strategy.
6. Contribution of e-Marketing towards Revenue: 72% of e-Commerce companies with turnover of Rs. 20cr to 100cr generate 30% or more of their revenue from Online Marketing.
7. Frequency of Technology Upgradation: Keeping pace with the constant changes and innovation in IT, 82% of Retailers upgrade their technology within 5 years of time span.
8. Cart Abandonment Program (CAP): Today, Shopping Cart Abandonment is an important issue for all Online Retailers. Deploying a simple Cart Abandonment Program (CAP) increases revenue by improving Cart Abandonment Rates. Yet only, 12% of India Retail Marketers have deployed a Cart Abandonment Program currently.

India Consumer : Why do they Unsubscribe?

Highlights

1. 46% of subscribers say that the emails they receive are not relevant to them, 24% report that they no longer want to receive these emails with 15% saying that they don’t even remember signing up.
2. In Retail Sector, 49% of subscribers said their emails are not relevant to them which is the highest across all sectors, on the contrary just 3% said their mails are spam and should be reported which is the least across all sectors.
3. 15% of subscribers in Telecom, IT and Education sectors say they do not remember signing up for the email updates.
4. In BFSI sector, 33% subscribers said they ‘no longer want to receive the email updates’ which is the highest including all sectors.
5. Over the years, ‘emails being not relevant’ is the top reason for consumers unsubscribing followed by ‘do not remember signing up’.

e-Travel Marketing India

Highlights

1. Consumers are turning to the internet to take advantage of ease of booking and comparative pricing. 95% of consumers search online before making a travel purchase.
2. The research indicates that majority of consumers are comfortable with online ticket booking, but tour packages and hotels are still booked online. It indicates that there is a gap between expectations of consumers and actual facilities promised by hotels when booked online.
3. Best deals are an important motivation for customers to go online. According to our research 36% consumers make unplanned trips if offered a discount.
4. Social media affects purchase decision of 48% consumers but personal experience of a consumer affects the decision more than the experience of others.
5. According to our research, 41% consumers make a purchase after receiving a promotional/discount offer over email and 25% consumers make a purchase after receiving an offer over SMS.
6. It is easier for a desktop user to look at more websites and switch from one competitor to another. But an app user is a loyalist; so majority of e-travel companies are incentivizing the consumers to use their Mobile app.

India Mobile Users Experience Monitor 2013

Highlights

1. A total of 2892 responses were recorded. Almost 66% of the respondents were males. It was noted that gender did not play any role in deciding what type of mobile phone one will be likely to buy.
2. Higher percentage of males were comfortable in using their mobile phone for online banking and getting directions from online maps.
3. It was seen that 87% of respondents having smart phones had enabled Internet on their handsets in comparison to 54% respondents who had simple feature phone. Smart phone users are more likely to use their handsets for conducting web based activities.
4. It is observed that, at 60%, smart phones have least penetration amongst non-working and low earning respondents. Smart phone penetration increases as income of the respondents increases
5. Having only 50% penetration, smart phones are relatively less popular in 45+ age groups

India Retail e-Marketing Study 2013

Highlights

1. Customer Acquisition came out to be the primary marketing goal for retailers with 54% of them choosing this option. Customer retention and brand awareness follow at 22% and 19% respectively according to the inputs of both online (e-Commerce) and offline (brick & mortar stores) retailers.
2. 27% of the retailers surveyed are thinking beyond the confines of offline operations and have already started to dabble in e-Commerce to expand the scope of their operations. At the same time, having tasted sufficient success online, about 16% of e-Commerce retailers said that they are also experimenting with physical store to further their reach.
3. 32% of the companies surveyed are looking to increase their online e-Commerce activities while about 14% are planning to start an online retail presence soon. Therefore, slightly less than half of all retailers (at 46%) are looking to expand their online footprint.
4. 26% of the retail companies surveyed heavily use technology for marketing efforts while 44% use it to some extent. On the flipside, another 26% of the respondents say they use minimal technology while 4% don’t use any technology in their marketing efforts. This shows that there’s a lot that can be done to improve their awareness of marketing technology and its benefits.

Go Green Initiative In Corporate Governance 2013

Highlights

1. A remarkable 95% of the respondents said that they were aware of the Go Green Initiative.
2. 81% of the respondents said that they have already completed implementation at their respective companies.
3. Going Green saves you money. More than 85% of the respondents said that they are expecting to save 20% or more on communication cost by adopting electronic means to communicate with shareholders.
4. It is clear that the industry is happy with the Go Green Initiative and wants the MCA to promote this even further. 73% respondents feel that all possible measures should be taken by the MCA for the furtherment of the Go Green Initiative.
5. 91% of the respondents feel that making registration of email ids compulsory at various stages of share purchase would help in solving one of the biggest hurdles of not having adequate details of shareholders.

State of Email Marketing in Online Retail in India 2014

Highlights

1. Email marketing stands out as the primary online marketing activity for eTail marketers at 31%, followed by Social Media Marketing and Search Marketing at 23% and Websites at 19% respectively.
2. 46% of the respondents shared that a quarter to half of all their email marketing messages will be viewed on mobile devices in 2014. A further 42% was even more confident and chose the 50% to 75% option for the same.
3. 15% of the survey respondents are looking to increase their budget by over 51% while 11% of marketers are looking at a minimum increase in budget (less than 5%).
4. 27% of the eTail marketers have allocated upto 75% of their marketing budgets towards online marketing activities. At the same time, a slightly smaller group (at 15%) has allocated even more to take it up to 50% of the total marketing budget being ear marked for online activities.
5. From the 85 eTailing websites analysed we found out that about 61% of them are following an easy Sign-up process to attract more new subscribers. Meanwhile 19% of the eTailing websites are following medium Sign-up process and 20% have a lengthy Sign-up process.
6. 12% eTailers out of the 85% eTailing websites analysed have adopted the Double Opt-in process and the rest 88% are still using the Single Opt-in process.
7. A good 42% of eTail marketers are sending out Programmatic emails. This clearly showcases that marketers have begun to realize its importance and are now more concerned about the shift in the marketplace.
8. Shopping cart abandonment is an issue that is giving nightmares to all eTailing websites owners, but only 27% of the marketers have adopted the cart abandonment program and the rest 73% are still lacking.

State of Email Marketing in India 2014

Highlights

1. More users in India access internet through mobile internet than on fixed lines. We have also seen a corresponding impact on email marketing engagement in 2013. Email Opens on Mobile Platforms have doubled up over the last six months of 2013 with Android platform showing a 100% growth. We predict that somewhere in 2014 email marketing consumption on mobile will overtake the desktop share.
2. Most email marketing campaigns are not optimized yet for mobile device form factors (Tablets, Phones, Phablets etc.) and hence are holding back higher rates of returns on investments in Email Marketing. In our assessment, more marketers will deploy responsive design, live content etc. in their email marketing programs in 2014 to increase CTRs and conversions.
3. Marketers have been cautiously integrating their promotional email campaigns and their
   transactional email alerts. ‘TransPromo’ as an opportunity to upsell and cross sell, is finally becoming a reality in India.
4. Retail and Travel & Hospitality sectors have been the best users of email marketing channel in 2013 with a sharp increase in the usage by the BFSI sector. We predict a higher usage of email marketing communication in 2014 by companies in banking & capital markets including shareholder communications.
5. Because of the currency fluctuation, CPM rates with international quality ESPs have gone up by up to 25%. Most marketers have begun to realize the importance of email marketing with a larger emphasis on campaign performance and email marketing’s contribution to the revenue & other campaign goals, than cheap rates.
6. We have seen an increase in deployment of Proactive Email Marketing Programs like Welcome Email, Cart Abandonment Program, Inactive Subscribers Program etc. in the second half of 2013. We forecast this as a major trend for 2014 with marketers in India moving from manual sporadic interventions to sustained programmatic execution of personalized and targeted email marketing campaigns.
7. According to marketers in India, Content (at 50%), Frequency/Volume of sending (at 46%) and Black Listing/Sender Reputation (at 34%) are the top three factors impacting inbox deliverability rates for Email campaigns.****
8. 36% of the marketers in India feel that a strong anti-spam law like the CAN-SPAM (USA) would help curb the menace of spam in India. A smaller group at 30% believes that a ‘code of conduct’ for Indian marketers by an industry body like IAMAI or DMAi would be effective.